Don9of11

thank you Don. yes, the plans are from AoTS book. I tried to align them in photoshop the best I could but the stretching was horrible. even the space between 3 station lines wasn't equal, let alone for the whole length of ship. that's why I needed to do the drafting. I guess one could build individual pieces, like deck beams and such by finding their real dimensions and not worry much about distortion in plans. I'll dig some more through the book you suggested to find some measures, or I'll just lift them from drawings and adjust to my ship. in the end, this is a computer model where I can get away with inconsistencies more easily than on a real ship model. if I see this through the end, and still wnat to build another, I might save some cash and buy a book with proper plans for my next build, just to make things easier... I'm already eyeing HMS Bellona/74-gun ship and Timbering plans from Ancre. and Bonhomme Richard, and HMS Bounty, and Le Fleuron and.... oh man, what have I gotten myself into? 

Denis, the scanned plans are probably not to scale or have other issues such as stretching or shrinking. Your frame plan probably didn't match up exactly with the deck plans or there could be other issues. Are these the plans from the Anatomy of the Ship series? Either way, based on what I see I would proceed as you suggested. As long as you are confident that your hull is fair then manipulate the plans to fit your hull. There is going to be a certain amount of guess work involved so I wouldn't worry to much about it. Accuracy can be a double-edge-sword when using CAD or similar programs, just remember to think like you were really building the model and a little sanding here or there can equal inches real life. For example, if you're modeling in 1/4 scale, 1 inch is equal to about 0.021 inches, 6 inches equal to 0.125 inches and so on. You're doing a great job, keep up the good work!

thank you Don, that book is huge. I'm sure I'll find something there. although I can't do much regarding frame thicknesses anymore without getting everything out of alignment. but, I laid out deck plans on the model and frame thicknesses seem OK (more or less). it's some differences in hull breadth at some places that worry me. I'm pretty sure I did the drafting OK, but now deck width varies a bit along the length. should I deform my frames to be aligned to deck plans or should I stick with my drafting and adjust decks according to faired hull shape? I can easily manipulate that deck plan to fit perfectly inside the modeled frames. and that should be the correct approach, right? considering I haven't done complete drafting, where the decks would be adjusted as well...
 
here are the pics with decks laid out...
 
oh, and thank you all for the likes and comments. ;-)
 
cheers!
Denis

Check out Onshape, it's free, cloud based, 3D, Mac, PC, Android or iPhone. Easy to learn, plenty of tutorials, and help forums. I've been using Onshape exclusively to model my 74 gun ship (since I don't have access to Solidworks anymore) with good results. 
 
https://www.onshape.com/
 
 I pretty sure this link will let anyone on MSW have a "view only" of my model without having an Onshape account (left mouse click to rotate the model using PC) Also, I think the link is time sensitive but I'm not really sure.
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/57ea50c5d91ac010bb7be5b1/w/79d07ad0512a48804ab65584/e/2f785a9bc8574c4df5bea0f3
 
 

The holes in the front are called "hawse holes". Very nice work Denis, keep the pcs coming. As far as frame thicknesses you mentioned earlier there is free Google e-book you can download load which has a lot of the information you can use. 
 
Steel, David. 1812. The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture; Or: A Treatise on Ship-Building, Theoretical and Practical, on the Best Principles Established in Great Britain. With Copious Tables of Dimensions, &c. Illustrated with a Series of Thirty-Nine Large Draughts, ... Steel and Company.https://books.google.com/books?id=TWsmw-QqvmAC
 
Also, you might check out Seawhatch books website. https://www.seawatchbooks.com/
 
 

making progress. currently I'm busy with another project, but that's due soon, so I hope I'll gain some speed...
 
cheers!
Denis
 

ok, aft kant frames done! as you can see from images, half-breadth framing plan isn't really aligned with profile plan. I've cut straight lines looking from top, which doesn't look good when viewed on profile plan. that's how I figured I'll need to do the drafting back then. I just hope I did it right. quick cross-checking the deck plans with finished hull shell showed that I managed to get it pretty close. I hope it'll all be well once I get to building the decks…
 

 
 
and, this is the point where I am at right now. next I'll do hawse piece and fore cant frames. I hope you'll find this build interesting as well as the other ones. I know this isn't the real deal, and I guess many of you have already noticed tons of errors. since this is my learning build feel free to point each and every one of them should you wish so. the more I learn now the better the next one will be. thanks and stay tuned for more...

after I finished drafting plans I just connected all of the new station lines to get the outer hull shell.
 
I couldn't find any info on the exact thickness and tapering of the frames toward the top, but I did read through some data about dimensions of 24-gun ship. the data there also wasn't exact so in the end I settled with 11", 10" and 9" thickness at futtocks going from keel upwards. pretty unprecise, I know, but again, this is 3D build where I can more easily adjust dimensions than with real wood. I just hope the margin of error won't accumulate that much later on.
 
the shell is done, it looks OK placed on the keel. I guess I can start cutting the frames.
 

I'll use ppddry's method he used for his solidworks build, I'll make hull shell from which I'll cut frames. if I had framing plan with all frames drafted I would have done it that way but this method will have to work for now…
 
tracing the scanned plans:


 
 
finished drafting:

I begun with the keel assembly by tracing plan and making individual pieces. that was straightforward enough. although I see now I'll have to make some adjustments to the wood that holds that vertical pieces that hold transom (yeah, there'll be a lot of such wording until I pick up all of the naming, LOL) and cut wood above the rabbet for the frames.
 
it is at this point I became aware I'll need to do some drafting to be able to create frames, as framing plans weren't aligned good enough and guesswork is something I would like to avoid, otherwise everything else won't fit inside the hull. I've read through drafting instructions manual found in article database and was again blown away by amount of work that goes into model ship building. (really, kudos to all of you for your patience and persistence!!) since I don't own CAD software I figured why not doing it right in Blender. at least I won't have to worry about aligning body, half breadth and profile plans on a 2d plane like in AutoCAD. in Blender it'll be done in 3D right away.
 

hi all!
my name is Denis and I'm a 3D modeler from Croatia. I stumbled upon this forum while searching for some plans of a 17th/18th century sail ship, for that has been on my to-do list for quite some time now. it is little to say I was floored to see such craftsmanship on display in various build logs. some works border on magic and witchcraft, and I've seen a lot of those in CG community. seeing it be done for real I was stunned! what made the strongest impact are POF scratch builds. after I saw that, there was no way in hell to go back to initial idea of modeling a simple hull shell, sticking a wood texture onto it, putting some rods to act as masts and calling it done. no, now I have to do something alike. 
 
after searching for some good scanned plans I found HMS Pandora ones to be good enough for a first try (yeah, I hope there'll be more ships after this one. if I don't burn out in process, that is). and yes, I'm aware that there are a few more Pandora 3D builds, something I found out while searching for some pictures and references. my initial idea was to start with a 74 gun ship (really impressive piece of work). but thankfully I came to my senses soon enough and decided to start with something smaller for starters. "smaller" being used very loosely as Pandora also has tons of details, only less cannons to rig... :-D and those other Pandora 3D builds are going to be used as a good references until I get my bearings in shipbuilding, as this is a whole new world for me. 
 
I've already spent more than a month looking through various topics and posts every day collecting informations, getting to know terms and techniques. as if that wasn't enough I also had to learn how to draft plans, something I never thought I'll need while doing 3d modeling. and I haven't even started doing modeling at that point yet... :-)) I've never been so invested in a single model before, even before actual modeling. as a kid I had built several airplane scale models and enjoyed it very much. sadly, I don't have space, tools nor funds to start this shipbuilding endeavor for real. but I do have kids who would trip over it, I'm sure :-)). so the next best thing for me is doing modeling on a computer…
 
my tool of choice when modeling is concerned is Blender 3D, free open source software that is really powerful and more than capable contending with big guys like 3DS Max, Maya, Cinema 4D and such… I hope I didn't bother you much with this long intro, in the next few posts I'm going to show what I've done so far. considering this is a 3D model, and my first build, I guess there'll be a lot of errors due to inexperience and I'll be probably cutting some corners here and there due to nature of the medium, but I'll try to be as precise as possible. fingers crossed I follow this through the end… let's get started!

This is will make an excellent addition to my library. 

This is will make an excellent addition to my library. 

This is will make an excellent addition to my library. 

Very nice find!  Here is the link (note it is the 1812 edition)
 
Steel, David. 1812. The Elements and Practice of Naval Architecture; Or: A Treatise on Ship-Building, Theoretical and Practical, on the Best Principles Established in Great Britain. With Copious Tables of Dimensions, &c. Illustrated with a Series of Thirty-Nine Large Draughts, ... Steel and Company. https://books.google.com/books?id=TWsmw-QqvmAC    

Hello Jinyang
Great work.
When you have finished modeling, it would be great to make a movie like I did almost 10 years ago.

Congratulations.
Bernard

Sunday 13 Nov 2016
 
I managed to sand and install the last two chocks.  My first attempt at sanding ended in the part disappearing under the stop (because it was so thin at 0.02" or 0.46mm) and being sucked up by the vacuum.  The chocks are hemlock and measure 10" in height (approx 5/32").  They are 9" on the plan but at this build scale who can tell the difference.
 

 
Drilled and installed the bolts into the frame and through the chocks then trimmed flush.
 
 
 
Cut and milled a blank of Costello 0.079" thick for the next frame set.  Cut that length in half and rubber glued them together, clamped and ready to trace the template and cut the frame pieces in matching pairs.
 

Saturday 12 Nov 2016
 
Been away from it too long but feeling up to it again.
 
Today I fitted the chocks between the frames.  Presently the glue is drying and setting.
 

 
Tomorrow I will drill and install the bolts and start on the next set of frames.
 
I chose to install the top most chock first to set the space properly.
Subsequent (lower) installations were a bit of a challenge as the more I installed the less I could pry the frame open to receive the chock.
Each was sanded down to fit snugly.  I filed vertical grooves (pockets) into the chocks to hold the glue because most would be scraped away as the chock was slid into place.
 

 
The lowest ones were the worst as they were very thin.  I wanted to installed one more lower as they should be in groups of three between joints but it was a bit too thin for me.  I might try tomorrow when I'm fresh.
 
Presently the whole table is covered to keep the dust off over night. I do this after every session.
 

 

I will be doing a demo at my local club as a follow up to the carving exercise we had.  I will also create a photo essay of sorts here on MSW.
 
I have already created the test mold for the live demo and made a few test copies....but will be making more molds of other elements.   I will demonstrate one method for making simple one part molds for these flat carvings as it is something that comes in handy for ship modeling.  Especially for things like gunport wreaths etc.
 
So look for the demo to commence in about a week.  I am just waiting on newer resin and rubber mold material to arrive in the mail.  It has a short shelf life. Using old rubber mold materials is also not good because it could ruin your master.  
 
I will be trying a few brands so I can talk about and review each of them.  I hope you will find this a useful addendum to the carving section as it is somewhat related.  I hope its OK with you folks that I post here in this area.
 
Below is the first mold....a master carving....and two cast copies.   Casting thin parts is problematic but its what we do as ship modelers so lets give it a go.
 

 
 
Chuck

Silkspan or Modelspan as it seems to be called now is an excellent medium for making sails certainly at smaller scales.
 
I used it on my French Seventy-four build, and the effect of wind behind the sail is simply achieved using a hair dryer.
 

 
There is a technique to forming the sails but all the various strengthening patches along with seams and cringles can be incorporated, and it is both strong and translucent.
 
B.E.

You might want to try the http://www.floatingdrydock.com/ 
 
they have a much better selection of plans and e-books of the Fletcher class. You can also check out my gallery http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/gallery/album/60-uss-zellars-dd-777/
 
and my progress build photos located here http://howefamily.com/zellars_progress_photos/zellars.asp(flash required) My build is a Sumner class which is a little different than the Fletcher but the hull shape is essentially the same. 
 
I believe the Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner classes all had flush decks. Another great source for this and other US Navy plans go to the following:
 
https://maritime.org/doc/plans/
 
hope that helps

You might want to try the http://www.floatingdrydock.com/ 
 
they have a much better selection of plans and e-books of the Fletcher class. You can also check out my gallery http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/gallery/album/60-uss-zellars-dd-777/
 
and my progress build photos located here http://howefamily.com/zellars_progress_photos/zellars.asp(flash required) My build is a Sumner class which is a little different than the Fletcher but the hull shape is essentially the same. 
 
I believe the Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner classes all had flush decks. Another great source for this and other US Navy plans go to the following:
 
https://maritime.org/doc/plans/
 
hope that helps

You might want to try the http://www.floatingdrydock.com/ 
 
they have a much better selection of plans and e-books of the Fletcher class. You can also check out my gallery http://modelshipworld.com/index.php/gallery/album/60-uss-zellars-dd-777/
 
and my progress build photos located here http://howefamily.com/zellars_progress_photos/zellars.asp(flash required) My build is a Sumner class which is a little different than the Fletcher but the hull shape is essentially the same. 
 
I believe the Fletcher, Gearing and Sumner classes all had flush decks. Another great source for this and other US Navy plans go to the following:
 
https://maritime.org/doc/plans/
 
hope that helps

This is an interesting post as I have often wondered about my own 74 project and plans I'm developing, where I am following the information found in the Shipwrights Vade Mecum as the principal source, Ree's Naval Architecture and others. Some of these sources are public domain and I'm not tracing or copying from any existing drawings but drafting everything from scratch. A very interesting topic indeed.

This is an interesting post as I have often wondered about my own 74 project and plans I'm developing, where I am following the information found in the Shipwrights Vade Mecum as the principal source, Ree's Naval Architecture and others. Some of these sources are public domain and I'm not tracing or copying from any existing drawings but drafting everything from scratch. A very interesting topic indeed.